Tulane football Coach Curtis Johnson said the offense has been able to get through about twice as many plays this week with the return of quarterback Ryan Griffin, who had been limited with a shoulder injury.

Griffin threw about 70 passes in Thursday's workout on a day the team uses to work red zone and short yardage situations. Having Griffin, who has made 32 career starts, has made the entire practice week smoother, Johnson said.

“Absolutely, it’s a lot more (plays) run in practice,” Johnson said. “It’s almost double what we’ve been doing. Just having an experienced guy is a lot.”

Johnson said Griffin did tire at the end of practice again, but was otherwise doing okay physically in his first full week back since the Sept. 8 injury.

The team also got middle linebacker Zach Davis back in a very limited way. Davis hurt his ankle in Saturday’s 41-13 loss to University of Louisiana Lafayette and did not practice on Tuesday.

“He did some individual drills (Thursday morning),” Johnson said. “He didn’t do anything with team. I don’t know if he’s going to go. I’ll have to see at the end of tomorrow. … But right now I think he’s out. It’s hard to make an determination. It’s just hard.”

Fitting Davis into the game plan is still being kicked around, however.

“It’s just moving Zach around a little bit and seeing what he can do,” Johnson said. “He was the big one that I questioned whether he can play.”